Iran said it might boycott the 2012 London Olympics because of the event’s ‘racist’ logo which resembles the word Zion.

The secretary general of the National Olympic Committee said Iran had made the complaint in a letter to the International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and was waiting for a response.

The London logo shows the numbers 2012 in four jagged multi-coloured figures and was launched in 2007.

Zion is a term that refers to the city of Jerusalem and Iran does not recognise Israel.

“Certainly other countries, including Islamic nations, will react to this racist logo and this would jeopardise the goals of the Olympic games in the world,” Bahram Afsharzadeh told Irna, the official state news agency.

He warned the International Olympic Committee that “negligence of the issue from your side might affect the presence of some countries, especially Iran”.